One of Alex Mitchell’s strengths is his calm, unflappable temperament. Very little irritates the England scrum-half, an increasingly important cog in a team looking to play at a higher pace and tempo. There is an exception to every rule, however, and a recurring off-field issue has been disrupting the Northampton half-back’s preparations for the Test series against New Zealand.
Sharing a room on tour has long been part of the whole squad experience but, in Mitchell’s view, living with George Furbank, England’s full-back and a Saints teammate, is currently almost as awkward as facing the All Blacks. “We call him the ‘Facetime King’ because he’s constantly on Facetime to his girlfriend,” reports Mitchell. “The other night he was on the phone until midnight. We had training the next day and I was like, ‘George, you’re going to have to hang up’.
